Cruelty to living things?...am i over reacting?

[noonar]

I just got back from a long weekend with my in laws, including SIL and her BF.

we stayed in a lovely house, but there were quite few flies in the conservatory. one afternoon, everyone was in the conservatory when i walked in and was horrified to see SIL's BF hoovering up the flies on the ceiling with the hose attachment of the hoover

now, although i can see the comedy value in this post, i was absolutely fuming. everyone was hooting with laughter, but i was furious about the message this was sending to dds, aged 2 and 4. how can i expect them to learn respect for living things, with this behaviour as an example?

am i over reacting? how is it that the other 5 adults all thought that this was acceptable/ funny??

haha, some support at last for my way of thinking! was starting to think that i was on a totally different wavelength to just about everyone on MN!

HM, my PILs and i have nothing in common at all. it was a bit of a strain, tbh. MIL is a cross between pauline fowler and mrs 'buck-et'. FIL thinks i'm snooty and hates anyone with a uni education. but SIL and her BH are good conversationalists and are good fun usually- and theyre real foodies, which is a bonus. needless to say , i had to drink loads of alcohol in order to survive the weekend.

Last weekend I was trying to suck flies up the vacuum- 'orrible things. However ds was told off for killing a ladybird as they are lovely

Um - rustybear, there are a couple of small but significant differences - namely that there are (to my knowledge) no children posting on MN - and no actual hamsters were injured during the making of that thread

I don't necessarily think you're overreacting. If they were all over food in the kitchen, I'd try to get rid of them; and if they were mosquitoes in the conservatory, which might bite, again I might get rid - both health issues. But just flies in a conservatory? I'd leave them. Not necessary (or compassionate) to Hoover them up, and not a positive live-and-let-live message to your kids. Buddha would feel proud of you - or not, but that's another discussion .

thanks eggy